Vaj wrote: I don't think most TM'ers or most meditators in any group have been able to achieve the 'breathless' state which is indicative of Samadhi.
Vaj, Define "breathless." Seems to me that living is living, and that means some use of ATP at the least. I'm guessing that "suspension of breath" merely means that the level of bodily excitation is so low that oxygen is not being removed from the bloodstream fast enough to justify inhalation "for the nonce." The body will take another breath when it needs to. I personally love the concept of the bricked-up-in-a-cave yogi who is only hanging out "by a thread." But, however slowly it may be, the yogi is still processing and using oxygen. I like your stages of consciousness concepts, because I can, as if, see the rate-of-oxidation spectrum they comprise. But, is that the whole truth? Do you think there's some sort of miraculous oxygenless format of some stage of consciousness that would be eternal -- that is, the bricked yogi never takes another breath? Does God breathe astral oxygen? Does prana have any utility in Vicuntha? Edg